System and methods for semi-automated editing of orthomosaics built from remotely-sensed imagery

ABSTRACT

A system for automated mosaic-based vector editing comprising a mosaic imaging server that assembles image tiles to form larger image mosaics while correcting the image tiles for tonality and other visual characteristics, a vector analysis server that analyzes vector information, a routing calculation server that calculates routes from the vector information, and a rendering engine that produces visualizations from the routing information, and a method for image mosaic creation and correction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/465,581 titled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR SEMI-AUTOMATED EDITING OFORTHO-MOSAICS BUILT FROM REMOTELY-SENSED IMAGERY”, filed on Mar. 21,2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/730,227 titled “SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR SEMI-AUTOMATED EDITING OFORTHO-MOSAICS BUILT FROM REMOTELY-SENSED IMAGERY”, filed on Jun. 3,2015, now patented as U.S. Pat. No. 9,600,740 which issued on Mar. 21,2017, which claims the benefit of, and priority to, U.S. provisionalpatent application Ser. No. 62/007,103, now expired, filed on Jun. 3,2014 titled “TECHNIQUES FOR VECTOR MATCHING”, and is also acontinuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/681,043,titled “ADVANCED SEMI-AUTOMATED VECTOR EDITING IN TWO AND THREEDIMENSIONS”, filed on Apr. 7, 2015, which claims the benefit of, andpriority to, U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/976,483,now expired, filed on Apr. 7, 2014 titled “ADVANCED VECTOR EDITING”, theentire specification of which is incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety, and also is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/942,356, titled “SEMI-AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION OF LINEARFEATURES FROM IMAGE DATA INCLUDING PATH WIDTH ATTRIBUTION”, nowabandoned, which was filed on Jul. 15, 2013, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/417,568, titled “SEMI-AUTOMATICEXTRACTION OF LINEAR FEATURES FROM IMAGE DATA”, now patented as U.S.Pat. No. 8,488,845, which was filed on Mar. 12, 2012, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/606,918, titled“SEMI-AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION OF LINEAR FEATURES FROM IMAGE DATA”, nowpatented as U.S. Pat. No. 8,155,391, which was filed on Oct. 27, 2009,which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/764,765, titled “SEMI-AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION OF LINEAR FEATURES FROMIMAGE DATA”, now patented as U.S. Pat. No. 7,653,218, which was filed onJun. 18, 2007, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/416,282, titled “Semi-automatic extraction oflinear features from multispectral image data”, now abandoned, which wasfiled on May 2, 2006, and is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/416,276, titled “SEMI-AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION OFLINEAR FEATURES FROM RADAR IMAGE DATA”, now abandoned, which was filedon May 2, 2006, the entire specification of each of which isincorporated herein in its entirety by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Art

The disclosure relates to the field of image processing, and moreparticularly to the field of vector processing for large-scale satelliteimage processing systems.

Discussion of the State of the Art

In high-quality, high-resolution, RGB satellite orthomosaics, severalproperties are desired: (a) Seamlines between adjacent mosaic regionsshould be as inconspicuous as possible; (b) Color tone and saturationshould be consistent on similar image content in neighboring mosaicregions; (c) Color tone and saturation should be consistent whentransitioning from one side of a seamline to the other; (d) Imagecontent in the mosaic should be tonally realistic, or otherwiseplausible and aesthetically pleasing. An automated system to constructsuch a mosaic takes an initial collection of image strips, tonallyadjusts them, constructs seamlines within the overlap area betweenneighboring image strips, and clips the strips to the seamlines. (In“High Value Geographic Areas”, seamlines should ride along common thinlinear channels like roads, trails, and single line drainage, as well ascommon boundaries like city outskirts, forest boundary, mountain crestsand ravines, and farm field boundaries.) The resulting mosaic regionsfit together like puzzle pieces to form the mosaic.

Since automated seamline construction does not always route seamlines ina satisfactory way, what is needed is a semi-automated ability tolocally edit the seamlines of a mosaic and re-clip the incident mosaicregions accordingly.

Since automated tonal matching is generally not satisfactory everywhere,what is needed is semi-automated capability for tonal matching.

What is needed is a semi-automated capability to perform global tonaladjustment that is, adjusting gain/bias per band of a mosaic region(image strip), as a means toward tonal matching of adjacent mosaicregions. What is additionally needed is the ability for the user toselect two or more mosaic regions and perform semi-automated globaltonal adjustment across the selected regions as a whole, that is,adjusting the gain/bias per band across the selected regions as a whole.

In the course of tonal matching, local area features (e.g., cities) thatstraddle a seamline may appear tonally mismatched across a seam-line.What is needed is a semi-automated capability to perform local uniformtonal adjustment i.e., adjusting gain/bias per band within a localconstraint region of a mosaic region (image strip).

Global tonal adjustment on its own, often does not achieve sufficientlygood tonal matching along seamlines between adjacent mosaic regions.This motivates the concept of a local tonal adjustment function f(x, y)that adjusts gain/bias per band per mosaic region (or per band per groupof adjacent mosaic regions), that is to be applied to each pixel (x, y).If f(x, y) is given explicit definition at the boundary of a mosaicregion so as to achieve good tonal matching in the vicinity of seamlineswith neighboring regions, then the value of f(x,y) within the interiorof the mosaic region can be smoothly interpolated from the boundaryvalues. What is needed is both an automated and semi-automatedcapability to define f(x,y) at the boundary of a mosaic region, and anautomated capability to smoothly interpolate f(x, y) into the interiorof the mosaic region. Additionally what is needed is a semi-automatedcapability to insert a local tonal adjustment point P into an existinglocal tonal adjustment function f(x,y). Here the location and tonaladjustment values for the point are specified manually. The functionf(x,y) is automatically modified to agree with the tonal adjustmentvalues at the point (pixel) P, while continuously transitioning in thevicinity of P to the tonal adjustment values at P. Similarly, what isneeded is a semi-automated capability for the removal of P and a returnto the original local tonal adjustment function f(x, y).

It is undesirable for clouds to appear in a mosaic as they obscure thelandscape beneath. Other adverse areas may occur in the mosaic (cloudshadow, snow patch, glint, etc.). To “correct” such an area, what isneeded is a semi-automated capability that enables the user to perusethrough a stack of alternate imagery covering the area, extract acorresponding patch from one of these images, and incorporate it intothe current mosaic. Additionally what is needed is the capability totonally adjust the patch so that it fits into the mosaic as seamlesslyas possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A system and method to enable semi-automated editing of seamlines in anorthomosaic, including real-time re-clipping of image strips to theupdated seamlines. Reduced to practice. Has an interactive graphicaluser interface.

A system and method to enable semi-automated global tonal adjustment ofthe mosaic regions (image strips) in an orthomosaic. Reduced topractice. Has an interactive graphical user interface.

A system and method to enable semi-automated constrained tonaladjustment for local area features (e.g., cities) that straddle aseamline. Reduced to practice. Has an interactive graphical userinterface.

A system and method to enable semi-automated construction of a localtonal adjustment function on a mosaic region so that the region tonallymatches neighboring mosaic regions in the vicinity of the sharedboundary. The system and method additionally enables semi-automatedinsertion of tonal adjustment points into an existing local tonaladjustment function. Supports deletion as well. Reduced to practice.Semi-automated version has an interactive graphical user interface.

A system and method to enable, in semi-automated fashion, excising apatch from the current mosaic and replacing it with a patch from anexternal image (not participating in the initial mosaic); (b) tonallyadjusting the replacement patch; (c) tonally feathering the replacementpatch into the rest of the mosaic. Reduced to practice. Has aninteractive graphical user interface.

A system and method enabling the user to peruse through a stack ofimagery covering a clouded area of the current orthomosaic, extracting acorresponding patch from one of the images in the stack, and splicing itinto the current mosaic. The system additionally supports tonal adjustof the patch so that it fits into the mosaic as seamlessly as possible.Reduced to practice. Has an interactive graphical user interface.

Accordingly, the inventor has conceived and reduced to practice, in apreferred embodiment of the invention, a system and methods forsemi-automated vector editing of the seamlines in an orthomosaic.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a system forrerouting seamline vectors comprising a vector analysis server storedand operating on a network-connected computing device, a routingcalculation server stored and operating on a network-connected computingdevice, and a rendering engine stored and operating on anetwork-connected computing device, is disclosed. According to theembodiment, a vector analysis server may be utilized to perform analysisoperations on received vectors such as (for example) retrieving andanalyzing vectors from a vector storage such as a database or other datastorage means (such as, for example, integral or removablehardware-based storage such as a hard disk drive, or software-basedstorage schema common in the art). Additionally, an analysis server mayanalyze raster images such as by retrieving from a raster storage, forexample such as map images or similar raster-based image data. Theseanalyzed vectors and rasters may then be provided to a routingcalculation server, that may then identify or associate a plurality ofvector points or paths with a raster image, for example identifying avector-based path and correlating it with a raster-based satellite imageof a physical space, forming a combined “route” representing a vectorpath through the physical space.

Calculated routes may then be provided to a rendering engine, that mayanalyze the routes and form visualizations of the combined vector andraster data such as may be presentable on a viewer such as a displayscreen, for example for review by a human user. Additionally, a user mayinteract with the visualization presented using a variety of inputdevices such as (for example) a computer mouse or keyboard, such as tomanipulate the visualization or modify the information being presented.User input may be received by the rendering engine and utilized toupdate the rendering appropriately (such as to zoom in or out, forexample), or may be further provided by the rendering engine to arouting calculation server as needed, for example to recalculate a routebased on user modification (such as according to any of the methodsdescribed below, referring to FIGS. 6-7). As needed, modified routes maybe further provided to a vector analysis server, for example to analyzenew vector points based on user input, or for storage for futurereference.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, a pluralityof software-based processing methods for execution on a system forrerouting seamline vectors, are disclosed.

According to the embodiment, a method for seamline vector editing in“single-point detour mode”, is disclosed. In this mode, a circle mayappear in a display (for example, such as a graphical vector routingdisplay according to the invention) centered at the instantaneouslocation of the mouse cursor in an initial step. This circle may delimita region of influence around an interaction cursor. In a next step, thecursor may move or be moved, along with the circle moving with it. In anext step, the circle may come in contact with an initial vector V, andin a next step the vector may be rerouted in real-time through thecursor location and within the confines of the circle. This allows for avisual preview of the reroute prior to committing to it. In a next step,interacting with the interface (such as pressing a key on a keyboard orclicking a computer mouse, or any other suitable means of user input) onthe current cursor location accomplishes the actual commit. In anoptional side step, user input may be received to manipulate the cursoror the circle, such as (for example) scrolling the wheel on a computermouse. Upon editing (rerouting) the seamline vector V, whether duringpreview or commit, the image strips (rasters) in the mosaic that wereclipped against the original seamline vector V are re-clipped inreal-time against the rerouted seamline vector V and re-displayed in theviewer.

According to the embodiment, a method for seamline vector editing in“multi-point detour mode”, is disclosed. In this mode, in an initialstep, the user may place a mouse-click at location P₁ in the vicinity ofa seamline vector Vin the viewer. In subsequent steps, the user mayplace additional mouse clicks at locations P₂, P₃, . . . , P_(k-1) inthe viewer, and in a final step, the user indicates the last location inthe sequence, P_(k), with a double mouse click, again in the vicinity ofV. In an initial step, upon clicking at location P₁, the shortest linesegment from V to P₁ may be constructed and displayed in the viewer. Ina final step, upon double-clicking at location P_(k), the shortest linesegment from P_(k) to V may be constructed and displayed in the viewer.In a middle step, after clicking at location P_(j+1), a straight linesegment from P_(j) to P_(j+1) may be displayed in the viewer. While themouse-cursor location P_(j+1) is in motion, the straight line segmentfrom P₁ to P_(j+1) may also be displayed in the viewer. When thedouble-click finally occurs at location P_(k), the polygonal paththrough P₁, P₂, P₃, . . . , P_(k) replaces the corresponding section ofthe original seamline vector V Additionally, the image strips (rasters)in the mosaic that were clipped against the original seamline vector Vare re-clipped in real-time against the rerouted seamline vector V andre-displayed in the viewer.

Seth describe in a paragraph the behavior of the “Move Junction” editingoperation. End that paragraph with: Additionally, the image strips(rasters) in the mosaic that were clipped by seamline vectors incidentto the junction (seamlines that are now rerouted by the “Move Junction”editing operation) are re-clipped in real-time against the reroutedseamline vectors and re-displayed in the viewer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The accompanying drawings illustrate several embodiments of theinvention and, together with the description, serve to explain theprinciples of the invention according to the embodiments. It will beappreciated by one skilled in the art that the particular embodimentsillustrated in the drawings are merely exemplary, and are not to beconsidered as limiting of the scope of the invention or the claimsherein in any way.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardwarearchitecture of a computing device used in an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary logical architecturefor a client device, according to an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an exemplary architectural arrangementof clients, servers, and external services, according to an embodimentof the invention.

FIG. 4 is another block diagram illustrating an exemplary hardwarearchitecture of a computing device used in various embodiments of theinvention.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary system architecture foradvanced vector editing, according to a preferred embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 6 is a method flow diagram illustrating an exemplary set of methodsfor two-dimensional image-based vector routing, according to a preferredembodiment of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a method flow diagram illustrating an exemplary set of methodsfor three-dimensional image-based vector routing, according to apreferred embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of an exemplary vector routing user interface,illustrating the use of manual routing correction in a projection of avector onto a raster image.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of an exemplary vector routing user interface,illustrating the use of vector routing in a three-dimensional vectorprojection.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of an exemplary graphical interface forviewing and editing seamline vectors in an orthomosaic.

FIG. 11 is a method flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method forvector matching, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The inventor has conceived and reduced to practice, in a preferredembodiment of the invention, a system and methods for semi-automatedvector editing of seamlines in an orthomosaic.

One or more different inventions may be described in the presentapplication. Further, for one or more of the inventions describedherein, numerous alternative embodiments may be described; it should beappreciated that these are presented for illustrative purposes only andare not limiting of the inventions contained herein or the claimspresented herein in any way. One or more of the inventions may be widelyapplicable to numerous embodiments, as may be readily apparent from thedisclosure. In general, embodiments are described in sufficient detailto enable those skilled in the art to practice one or more of theinventions, and it should be appreciated that other embodiments may beutilized and that structural, logical, software, electrical and otherchanges may be made without departing from the scope of the particularinventions. Accordingly, one skilled in the art will recognize that oneor more of the inventions may be practiced with various modificationsand alterations. Particular features of one or more of the inventionsdescribed herein may be described with reference to one or moreparticular embodiments or figures that form a part of the presentdisclosure, and in which are shown, by way of illustration, specificembodiments of one or more of the inventions. It should be appreciated,however, that such features are not limited to usage in the one or moreparticular embodiments or figures with reference to which they aredescribed. The present disclosure is neither a literal description ofall embodiments of one or more of the inventions nor a listing offeatures of one or more of the inventions that must be present in allembodiments.

Headings of sections provided in this patent application and the titleof this patent application are for convenience only, and are not to betaken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. In addition, devices that are in communication with eachother may communicate directly or indirectly through one or morecommunication means or intermediaries, logical or physical.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communicationwith each other does not imply that all such components are required. Tothe contrary, a variety of optional components may be described toillustrate a wide variety of possible embodiments of one or more of theinventions and in order to more fully illustrate one or more aspects ofthe inventions. Similarly, although process steps, method steps,algorithms or the like may be described in a sequential order, suchprocesses, methods and algorithms may generally be configured to work inalternate orders, unless specifically stated to the contrary. In otherwords, any sequence or order of steps that may be described in thispatent application does not, in and of itself, indicate a requirementthat the steps be performed in that order. The steps of describedprocesses may be performed in any order practical. Further, some stepsmay be performed simultaneously despite being described or implied asoccurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is described afterthe other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by itsdepiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process isexclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not implythat the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to one ormore of the invention(s), and does not imply that the illustratedprocess is preferred. Also, steps are generally described once perembodiment, but this does not mean they must occur once, or that theymay only occur once each time a process, method, or algorithm is carriedout or executed. Some steps may be omitted in some embodiments or someoccurrences, or some steps may be executed more than once in a givenembodiment or occurrence.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readilyapparent that more than one device or article may be used in place of asingle device or article. Similarly, where more than one device orarticle is described herein, it will be readily apparent that a singledevice or article may be used in place of the more than one device orarticle.

The functionality or the features of a device may be alternativelyembodied by one or more other devices that are not explicitly describedas having such functionality or features. Thus, other embodiments of oneor more of the inventions need not include the device itself.

Techniques and mechanisms described or referenced herein will sometimesbe described in singular form for clarity. However, it should beappreciated that particular embodiments may include multiple iterationsof a technique or multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless notedotherwise. Process descriptions or blocks in figures should beunderstood as representing modules, segments, or portions of code whichinclude one or more executable instructions for implementing specificlogical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations areincluded within the scope of embodiments of the present invention inwhich, for example, functions may be executed out of order from thatshown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverseorder, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understoodby those having ordinary skill in the art.

Hardware Architecture

Generally, the techniques disclosed herein may be implemented onhardware or a combination of software and hardware. For example, theymay be implemented in an operating system kernel, in a separate userprocess, in a library package bound into network applications, on aspecially constructed machine, on an application-specific integratedcircuit (ASIC), or on a network interface card.

Software/hardware hybrid implementations of at least some of theembodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on a programmablenetwork-resident machine (which should be understood to includeintermittently connected network-aware machines) selectively activatedor reconfigured by a computer program stored in memory. Such networkdevices may have multiple network interfaces that may be configured ordesigned to utilize different types of network communication protocols.A general architecture for some of these machines may be describedherein in order to illustrate one or more exemplary means by which agiven unit of functionality may be implemented. According to specificembodiments, at least some of the features or functionalities of thevarious embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented on one or moregeneral-purpose computers associated with one or more networks, such asfor example an end-user computer system, a client computer, a networkserver or other server system, a mobile computing device (e.g., tabletcomputing device, mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, or other appropriatecomputing device), a consumer electronic device, a music player, or anyother suitable electronic device, router, switch, or other suitabledevice, or any combination thereof. In at least some embodiments, atleast some of the features or functionalities of the various embodimentsdisclosed herein may be implemented in one or more virtualized computingenvironments (e.g., network computing clouds, virtual machines hosted onone or more physical computing machines, or other appropriate virtualenvironments).

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a block diagram depicting anexemplary computing device 100 suitable for implementing at least aportion of the features or functionalities disclosed herein. Computingdevice 100 may be, for example, any one of the computing machines listedin the previous paragraph, or indeed any other electronic device capableof executing software- or hardware-based instructions according to oneor more programs stored in memory. Computing device 100 may be adaptedto communicate with a plurality of other computing devices, such asclients or servers, over communications networks such as a wide areanetwork a metropolitan area network, a local area network, a wirelessnetwork, the Internet, or any other network, using known protocols forsuch communication, whether wireless or wired.

In one embodiment, computing device 100 includes one or more centralprocessing units (CPU) 102, one or more interfaces 110, and one or morebusses 106 (such as a peripheral component interconnect (PCI) bus). Whenacting under the control of appropriate software or firmware, CPU 102may be responsible for implementing specific functions associated withthe functions of a specifically configured computing device or machine.For example, in at least one embodiment, a computing device 100 may beconfigured or designed to function as a server system utilizing CPU 102,local memory 101 and/or remote memory 120, and interface(s) 110. In atleast one embodiment, CPU 102 may be caused to perform one or more ofthe different types of functions and/or operations under the control ofsoftware modules or components, which for example, may include anoperating system and any appropriate applications software, drivers, andthe like.

CPU 102 may include one or more processors 103 such as, for example, aprocessor from one of the Intel, ARM,

ualcomm, and AMD families of microprocessors. In some embodiments,processors 103 may include specially designed hardware such asapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memories (EEPROMs), field-programmable gatearrays (FPGAs), and so forth, for controlling operations of computingdevice 100. In a specific embodiment, a local memory 101 (such asnon-volatile random access memory (RAM) and/or read-only memory (ROM),including for example one or more levels of cached memory) may also formpart of CPU 102. However, there are many different ways in which memorymay be coupled to system 100. Memory 101 may be used for a variety ofpurposes such as, for example, caching and/or storing data, programminginstructions, and the like. It should be further appreciated that CPU102 may be one of a variety of system-on-a-chip (SOC) type hardware thatmay include additional hardware such as memory or graphics processingchips, such as a

ualcomm SNAPDRAGON™ or Samsung EXYNOS™ CPU as are becoming increasinglycommon in the art, such as for use in mobile devices or integrateddevices.

As used herein, the term “processor” is not limited merely to thoseintegrated circuits referred to in the art as a processor, a mobileprocessor, or a microprocessor, but broadly refers to a microcontroller,a microcomputer, a programmable logic controller, anapplication-specific integrated circuit, and any other programmablecircuit.

In one embodiment, interfaces 110 are provided as network interfacecards (NICs). Generally, NICs control the sending and receiving of datapackets over a computer network; other types of interfaces 110 may forexample support other peripherals used with computing device 100. Amongthe interfaces that may be provided are Ethernet interfaces, frame relayinterfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ring interfaces,graphics interfaces, and the like. In addition, various types ofinterfaces may be provided such as, for example, universal serial bus(USB), Serial, Ethernet, FIREWIRE™, THUNDERBOLT™, PCI, parallel, radiofrequency (RF), BLUETOOTH™, near-field communications (e.g., usingnear-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), frame relay, TCP/IP, ISDN, fastEthernet interfaces, Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, Serial ATA (SATA) orexternal SATA (ESATA) interfaces, high-definition multimedia interface(HDMI), digital visual interface (DVI), analog or digital audiointerfaces, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) interfaces, high-speedserial interface (HSSI) interfaces, Point of Sale (POS) interfaces,fiber data distributed interfaces (FDDIs), and the like. Generally, suchinterfaces 110 may include physical ports appropriate for communicationwith appropriate media. In some cases, they may also include anindependent processor (such as a dedicated audio or video processor, asis common in the art for high-fidelity A/V hardware interfaces) and, insome instances, volatile and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., RAM).

Although the system shown in FIG. 1 illustrates one specificarchitecture for a computing device 100 for implementing one or more ofthe inventions described herein, it is by no means the only devicearchitecture on which at least a portion of the features and techniquesdescribed herein may be implemented. For example, architectures havingone or any number of processors 103 may be used, and such processors 103may be present in a single device or distributed among any number ofdevices. In one embodiment, a single processor 103 handlescommunications as well as routing computations, while in otherembodiments a separate dedicated communications processor may beprovided. In various embodiments, different types of features orfunctionalities may be implemented in a system according to theinvention that includes a client device (such as a tablet device orsmartphone running client software) and server systems (such as a serversystem described in more detail below).

Regardless of network device configuration, the system of the presentinvention may employ one or more memories or memory modules (such as,for example, remote memory block 120 and local memory 101) configured tostore data, program instructions for the general-purpose networkoperations, or other information relating to the functionality of theembodiments described herein (or any combinations of the above). Programinstructions may control execution of or comprise an operating systemand/or one or more applications, for example. Memory 120 or memories101, 120 may also be configured to store data structures, configurationdata, encryption data, historical system operations information, or anyother specific or generic non-program information described herein.

Because such information and program instructions may be employed toimplement one or more systems or methods described herein, at least somenetwork device embodiments may include nontransitory machine-readablestorage media, which, for example, may be configured or designed tostore program instructions, state information, and the like forperforming various operations described herein. Examples of suchnontransitory machine-readable storage media include, but are notlimited to, magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, andmagnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical mediasuch as optical disks, and hardware devices that are speciallyconfigured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-onlymemory devices (ROM), flash memory (as is common in mobile devices andintegrated systems), solid state drives (SSD) and “hybrid SSD” storagedrives that may combine physical components of solid state and hard diskdrives in a single hardware device (as are becoming increasingly commonin the art with regard to personal computers), memristor memory, randomaccess memory (RAM), and the like. It should be appreciated that suchstorage means may be integral and non-removable (such as RAM hardwaremodules that may be soldered onto a motherboard or otherwise integratedinto an electronic device), or they may be removable such as swappableflash memory modules (such as “thumb drives” or other removable mediadesigned for rapidly exchanging physical storage devices),“hot-swappable” hard disk drives or solid state drives, removableoptical storage discs, or other such removable media, and that suchintegral and removable storage media may be utilized interchangeably.Examples of program instructions include both object code, such as maybe produced by a compiler, machine code, such as may be produced by anassembler or a linker, byte code, such as may be generated by forexample a Java™ compiler and may be executed using a Java virtualmachine or equivalent, or files containing higher level code that may beexecuted by the computer using an interpreter (for example, scriptswritten in Python, Perl, Ruby, Groovy, or any other scripting language).

In some embodiments, systems according to the present invention may beimplemented on a standalone computing system. Referring now to FIG. 2,there is shown a block diagram depicting a typical exemplaryarchitecture of one or more embodiments or components thereof on astandalone computing system. Computing device 200 includes processors210 that may run software that carry out one or more functions orapplications of embodiments of the invention, such as for example aclient application 230. Processors 210 may carry out computinginstructions under control of an operating system 220 such as, forexample, a version of Microsoft's WINDOWS™ operating system, Apple's MacOS/X or iOS operating systems, some variety of the Linux operatingsystem, Google's ANDROID™ operating system, or the like. In many cases,one or more shared services 225 may be operable in system 200, and maybe useful for providing common services to client applications 230.Services 225 may for example be WINDOWS™ services, user-space commonservices in a Linux environment, or any other type of common servicearchitecture used with operating system 210. Input devices 270 may be ofany type suitable for receiving user input, including for example akeyboard, touchscreen, microphone (for example, for voice input), mouse,touchpad, trackball, or any combination thereof. Output devices 260 maybe of any type suitable for providing output to one or more users,whether remote or local to system 200, and may include for example oneor more screens for visual output, speakers, printers, or anycombination thereof. Memory 240 may be random-access memory having anystructure and architecture known in the art, for use by processors 210,for example to run software. Storage devices 250 may be any magnetic,optical, mechanical, memristor, or electrical storage device for storageof data in digital form (such as those described above, referring toFIG. 1). Examples of storage devices 250 include flash memory, magnetichard drive, CD-ROM, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, systems of the present invention may be implementedon a distributed computing network, such as one having any number ofclients and/or servers. Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown a blockdiagram depicting an exemplary architecture 300 for implementing atleast a portion of a system according to an embodiment of the inventionon a distributed computing network. According to the embodiment, anynumber of clients 330 may be provided. Each client 330 may run softwarefor implementing client-side portions of the present invention; clientsmay comprise a system 200 such as that illustrated in FIG. 2. Inaddition, any number of servers 320 may be provided for handlingrequests received from one or more clients 330. Clients 330 and servers320 may communicate with one another via one or more electronic networks310, which may be in various embodiments any of the Internet, a widearea network, a mobile telephony network (such as CDMA or GSM cellularnetworks), a wireless network (such as WiFi, Wimax, LTE, and so forth),or a local area network (or indeed any network topology known in theart; the invention does not prefer any one network topology over anyother). Networks 310 may be implemented using any known networkprotocols, including for example wired and/or wireless protocols.

In addition, in some embodiments, servers 320 may call external services370 when needed to obtain additional information, or to refer toadditional data concerning a particular call. Communications withexternal services 370 may take place, for example, via one or morenetworks 310. In various embodiments, external services 370 may compriseweb-enabled services or functionality related to or installed on thehardware device itself. For example, in an embodiment where clientapplications 230 are implemented on a smartphone or other electronicdevice, client applications 230 may obtain information stored in aserver system 320 in the cloud or on an external service 370 deployed onone or more of a particular enterprise's or user's premises.

In some embodiments of the invention, clients 330 or servers 320 (orboth) may make use of one or more specialized services or appliancesthat may be deployed locally or remotely across one or more networks310. For example, one or more databases 340 may be used or referred toby one or more embodiments of the invention. It should be understood byone having ordinary skill in the art that databases 340 may be arrangedin a wide variety of architectures and using a wide variety of dataaccess and manipulation means. For example, in various embodiments oneor more databases 340 may comprise a relational database system using astructured query language (S

L), while others may comprise an alternative data storage technologysuch as those referred to in the art as “NoS

L” (for example, Hadoop Cassandra, Google BigTable, and so forth). Insome embodiments, variant database architectures such as column-orienteddatabases, in-memory databases, clustered databases, distributeddatabases, or even flat file data repositories may be used according tothe invention. It will be appreciated by one having ordinary skill inthe art that any combination of known or future database technologiesmay be used as appropriate, unless a specific database technology or aspecific arrangement of components is specified for a particularembodiment herein. Moreover, it should be appreciated that the term“database” as used herein may refer to a physical database machine, acluster of machines acting as a single database system, or a logicaldatabase within an overall database management system. Unless a specificmeaning is specified for a given use of the term “database”, it shouldbe construed to mean any of these senses of the word, all of which areunderstood as a plain meaning of the term “database” by those havingordinary skill in the art.

Similarly, most embodiments of the invention may make use of one or moresecurity systems 360 and configuration systems 350. Security andconfiguration management are common information technology (IT) and webfunctions, and some amount of each are generally associated with any ITor web systems. It should be understood by one having ordinary skill inthe art that any configuration or security subsystems known in the artnow or in the future may be used in conjunction with embodiments of theinvention without limitation, unless a specific security 360 orconfiguration system 350 or approach is specifically required by thedescription of any specific embodiment.

FIG. 4 shows an exemplary overview of a computer system 400 as may beused in any of the various locations throughout the system. It isexemplary of any computer that may execute code to process data. Variousmodifications and changes may be made to computer system 400 withoutdeparting from the broader scope of the system and method disclosedherein. CPU 401 is connected to bus 402, to which bus is also connectedmemory 403, nonvolatile memory 404, display 407, I/O unit 408, andnetwork interface card (NIC) 413. I/O unit 408 may, typically, beconnected to keyboard 409, pointing device 410, hard disk 412, andreal-time clock 411. NIC 413 connects to network 414, which may be theInternet or a local network, which local network may or may not haveconnections to the Internet. Also shown as part of system 400 is powersupply unit 405 connected, in this example, to ac supply 406. Not shownare batteries that could be present, and many other devices andmodifications that are well known but are not applicable to the specificnovel functions of the current system and method disclosed herein. Itshould be appreciated that some or all components illustrated may becombined, such as in various integrated applications (for example,

ualcomm or Samsung SOC-based devices), or whenever it may be appropriateto combine multiple capabilities or functions into a single hardwaredevice (for instance, in mobile devices such as smartphones, video gameconsoles, in-vehicle computer systems such as navigation or multimediasystems in automobiles, or other integrated hardware devices).

In various embodiments, functionality for implementing systems ormethods of the present invention may be distributed among any number ofclient and/or server components. For example, various software modulesmay be implemented for performing various functions in connection withthe present invention, and such modules may be variously implemented torun on server and/or client components.

Conceptual Architecture

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an exemplary system architecture 500 foradvanced vector editing, according to a preferred embodiment of theinvention. According to the embodiment, a vector analysis server 501 maybe stored and operating on a network-connected computing device, and maybe utilized to perform analysis operations on received vectors such as(for example) retrieving and analyzing vectors from a vector storage 502such as a database or other data storage means (such as, for example,integral or removable hardware-based storage such as a hard disk drive,or software-based storage schema common in the art). Additionally, ananalysis server 501 may analyze raster images such as by retrieving froma raster storage 503, for example such as map images or similarraster-based image data. These analyzed vectors and rasters may then beprovided to a routing calculation server 504, that may then identify orassociate a plurality of vector points or paths with a raster image, forexample identifying a vector-based path and correlating it with araster-based satellite image of a physical space, forming a combined“route” representing a vector path through the physical space.

Calculated routes may then be provided to a rendering engine 505, thatmay analyze the routes and form visualizations of the combined vectorand raster data such as may be presentable on a viewer 507 such as adisplay screen, for example for review by a human user. Additionally, auser may interact with the visualization presented using a variety ofinput devices 506 such as (for example) a computer mouse or keyboard,such as to manipulate the visualization or modify the information beingpresented. User input may be received by the rendering engine 505 andutilized to update the rendering appropriately (such as to zoom in orout, for example), or may be further provided by the rendering engine505 to a routing calculation server 504 as needed, for example torecalculate a route based on user modification (such as according to anyof the methods described below, referring to FIGS. 6-7). As needed,modified routes may be further provided to a vector analysis server 501,for example to analyze new vector points based on user input, or forstorage for future reference.

Additionally, a mosaic imaging server 510 may be utilized to receive andprocess images or image tiles (that may portions or edited versions ofimages, for example cropping a single large image into multiple smallerimage tiles for ease of use), and may provide these image tiles andmosaics to the vector analysis server 501 and routing calculation server504 for use in vector operations. For example, as described below(referring to FIG. 11), a plurality of images may be processed by themosaic imaging server 510 for use as raster image components to bepresented optionally with vector information, such as for display andinteraction via a viewer 507. The mosaic imaging server 510 may performsuch processing operations as to determine bias or offset values forimage tiles, to align and match such tiles to form image mosaics (thatis, a single composite image from multiple smaller images or tiles), aswell as to provide image-based information for use in vector editing,calculation, or routing operations according to the embodiment of theinvention.

It should be appreciated that according to the embodiment, various meansof connection or communication between the components of a system 500may be utilized according to the invention interchangeably orsimultaneously, such as for example a direct, physical data connection(such as via a data cable or similar physical means), a software-basedconnection such as via an application programming interface (API) orother software communication means (such as may be suitable, forexample, in arrangements where multiple system components may operate ona single hardware device such as a computing server or workstation), orany of a variety of network connections such as via the Internet orother data communications network. It should therefore be appreciatedthat the connections shown are exemplary in nature and represent only aselection of possible arrangements, and that alternate or additionalconnections may be utilized according to the invention.

FIG. 6 is a method flow diagram illustrating an exemplary set of methods600 for semi-automated vector editing (rerouting) of seamlines in anorthomosaic, according to a preferred embodiment of the invention. Asillustrated, a variety of routing modes may be utilized, and means ofmanipulating a vector according to each mode are described. Referencemay be made to the use of mouse clicks as a means of user input, howeverit should be appreciated that this is exemplary and a variety ofadditional or alternate input means may be utilized according to theinvention, and the use of a computer mouse is described for clarity.

Single-Point Detour Mode 600 a:

In this mode, a circle may appear in a display (for example, such as agraphical vector routing display described below with reference to FIG.9) centered at the instantaneous location of the mouse cursor in aninitial step 601. This circle may delimit a region of influence aroundan interaction cursor. In a next step 602, the cursor may move or bemoved, along with the circle moving with it. In a next step 603, thecircle may come in contact with an initial vector V, and in a next step604 the vector may be rerouted in real-time (or near real-time) throughthe cursor location and within the confines of the circle. This allowsfor a visual preview of the reroute prior to committing to it. In a nextstep 605, interacting with the interface (such as pressing a key on akeyboard or clicking a computer mouse, or any other suitable means ofuser input) on the current cursor location accomplishes the actualcommit. The committed rerouted vector remains in the display. In anoptional side step 606, user input may be received to manipulate thecursor or the circle, such as (for example) scrolling the wheel on acomputer mouse. Upon editing (rerouting) the seamline vector V, whetherduring preview or commit, the image strips (rasters) in the mosaicclipped by the original seamline vector V are re-clipped in real-time bythe rerouted seamline vector V and re-displayed in the viewer.

In one situation, the circle may intersect the initial seamline vector Vat two or more points, but does not contain either vector endpointwithin its interior. Viewing the vector V as an ordered sequence ofvertices, let A denote the first point (not generally a vertex) alongthe vector that intersects the circle. Let B denote the last point (notgenerally a vertex) along the vector that intersects the circle. Let Pdenote the cursor location. Then the portion of V within the circle willbe rerouted via a new path consisting of a straight line segments from Ato P and from P to B.

In another possible situation, the circle may contain exactly oneendpoint of the initial seamline vector V. Call it A. Let B denote thepoint of farthest arc length along the vector from A that intersects thecircle. The points A and B here now play the same role that the points Aand B played in the prior situation.

In another situation, the circle may contain both endpoints of theinitial seamline vector V. Call them A and B. The points A and B herenow play the same role that the points A and B played in the priorsituation.

Multi-Point Detour Mode 600 b:

In this mode, in an initial step, the user may place a mouse-click atlocation P₁ in the vicinity of a seamline vector V in the viewer. Insubsequent steps, the user may place additional mouse clicks atlocations P₂, P₃, . . . , P_(k-1) in the viewer, and in a final step,the user indicates the last location in the sequence, P_(k), with adouble mouse click, again in the vicinity of V. In an initial step, uponclicking at location P₁, the shortest line segment from V to P₁ may beconstructed and displayed in the viewer. In a final step, upondouble-clicking at location P_(k), the shortest line segment from P_(k)to V may be constructed and displayed in the viewer. In a middle step,after clicking at location P_(j+1), a straight line segment from P_(j)to P_(j+1) maybe displayed in the viewer. Even while the mouse-cursorlocation P_(j+1) is in motion, the straight line segment from P_(j) toP_(j+1) may be displayed in the viewer. When the double-click finallyoccurs at location P_(k), the polygonal path through P₁, P₂, P₃, . . . ,P_(k) replaces the corresponding section of the original seamline vectorV and the result remains displayed in the viewer. Additionally, theimage strips (rasters) in the mosaic clipped by the original seamlinevector V are re-clipped in real-time by the rerouted seamline vector Vand re-displayed in the viewer.

It should be appreciated that other devices besides a computer mouse maybe utilized according to the invention.

It should be appreciated that a different local rerouting of theseamline vector V within the circle is possible other than what isdescribed in the foregoing situations. Also, the region of influence isdisplayed need not be a circle, but could be some other shape. All thisas may be suited to the nature of the invention disclosed herein.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of a graphical interface 1000 that may becoupled with backend capabilities such as those provided by a matchingsystem (described above, referring to FIG. 5) adapted to support localuniform tonal adjustment across a seamline 1011 in an orthomosaic 1001built from remotely-sensed imagery. Through the viewer 1000, a user mayexamine the mosaic 1001 in total, or any part of it through pan andzoom.

Variation 1:

The user draws a polygon 1021 in the mosaic 1001 that straddles aseamline 1011. Let A and B denote the two mosaic tiles 1010 incident tothe seamline. The user invokes a dialogue box that displays the A bandhistograms and the B band histograms, both constrained to theuser-defined polygon. The histograms are displayed in such a way thateach A band histogram can be easily compared with the corresponding Bband histogram. The user can adjust the gain or bias of any bandhistogram independently of the others, and see in real-time the effecton both the histogram itself and on the associated mosaic tile in theviewer. The change to the latter is constrained to the user-definedpolygon.

Variation 2:

The user draws a polygon in the mosaic that straddles a seamline. Let Aand B denote the two mosaic tiles incident to the seamline. The userinvokes automation to construct the A band histograms and the B bandhistograms, both constrained to the user-defined polygon. The automationperforms histogram matching of corresponding band histograms (i.e.,causes corresponding band histograms to assume similar center anddispersion) by automatically adjusting their gain/bias. For example, anA band histogram and its corresponding B band histogram might both havetheir gain/bias adjusted to match a histogram “midway” between the twoof them. The histogram matching is reflected in the viewer, which showsthe effect on mosaic tiles A and B within the user-defined polygon.

In an embodiment of the invention, a graphical user interface andbackend capability to support creation of a continuous local tonaladjustment function to a tile of an orthomosaic, is disclosed. Acontinuous local tonal adjustment function f(x, y) is a continuousfunction that prescribes gain/bias (per band) for each pixel (x, y) inthe tile. The function f(x, y) will be explicitly defined near theboundary of the tile to yield a good local tonal matching withneighboring tiles while interpolating gain/bias through the interior ofthe tile.

FIG. 11 is a method flow diagram, illustrating an exemplary overviewmethod 1100 to locally adjust gain/bias of a tile in a mosaic to matchit with its neighbors while interpolating gain/bias through theinterior. According to the embodiment, in an initial step 1101 aplurality of images may be received by a mosaic imaging server, eachimage being optionally a portion or altered version (such as cropped orresized) of another image interchangeably, for example taking a singlelarge image and cropping into smaller portions and then providing thoseportions to the mosaic matching server. In a next step 1102, a mosaicimaging server may assign gain and bias values to initial points in animage tile, for example (as in an automated use case described below),the corners of the initial image tile. In a next step 1103, the mosaicimaging server may assign additional point values around the boundary oredge of an image tile, along with corresponding histograms representingthe image pixels in a radius around the points. In a next step 1104these histograms may be used along with bias and gain information todetermine suitable matching parameters for multiple image tiles. Forexample, by adjusting the alignment of image tiles such as to minimizediscrepancies in their histograms, it can be inferred that the alignmentis a good pixel match (that is, the pixels will line up properly and theimages will be aligned such as to form a complete, larger image ratherthan having an offset that may distort or compromise the image quality).

In a next step 1105, the mosaic imaging server may then generateadditional control points within an image tile (for example byoverlaying a grid of points), and these points may then be used to formtriangulated regions in a next step 1106. In a next step 1107 thesetriangulated regions may then be processed to produce a “surface” ofgain or bias values over the entire image tile (for example, calculatedfrom the gain or bias values for bounding points of triangulatedregions). In a final step 1108, the calculated gain or bias values maybe applied to the pixels within the image tile, adjusting its tonalityor other image visual characteristics (such as contrast or brightness)to enhance mosaic generation and matching, and to improve the utility ofraster-based imagery used in vector operations. In this manner, it maybe appreciated that a mosaic imaging server may “stitch” togethermultiple image tiles to form larger images while also correcting forinconsistencies in the appearance of the tiles so that the mosaic formedis not distorted, and these mosaics may then be provided for use asraster-based imagery for vector operations.

Automation considers each corner point of image A as a control point.Automation assigns gain 1, bias 0 to each band (RGB) at each of thesecontrol points. Automation triangulates image A on its 4 control points.

The user can add a control point to the tile by clicking the mouse atthe desired location. This causes the triangulation in that tile'sbounding box to be updated to incorporate the new control point.

Variation 1:

The gain/bias of the new control point is set manually through aninterface.

Variation 2:

Automation constructs a local patch in the mosaic centered at thecontrol point. This variation applies when the patch contains pixelsboth from Image A (Image A contains tile A, which we are adjusting) andfrom Image B (which contains a tile that neighbors A). Automationconstructs two local histograms, one for image A's pixels in the patch,and one for image B's pixels in the patch. Automation determines how tomatch A's local histogram with B's local histogram by adjusting A's gainand bias. This is the gain and bias assigned to the control point.

At any subsequent time, each image is triangulated, but thetriangulation will generally include additional control points that areinterior to the image.

A problem we consider here is the construction of large-area (typicallyon the order of 10⁷ km²) mosaics from high-resolution satellite imagery(on the order of a meter or less per pixel). The input imagery istypically orthorectified strips taken from a high-resolution imagingsatellite like WORLDVIEW-2™ or GEOEYE-1™. The goal is to adjust thecolor of these strips such that when they are stitched together into amosaic, their color and intensity is as close as possible. The inputstrips, so modified, form good input into the larger process thatproduces a seamless large-area mosaic.

Part of the approach to tonal matching of the image strips is to matchthem to a base layer of low resolution USGS LANDSAT-8™ imagery. However,attempting to do this with one global tonal adjustment per-strip doesnot typically lead to a visually satisfying result. (For instance, if astrip contains a small region (like a town) that is significantlybrighter than the surround area, it may end up washed out by the globaladjustment, as it is a statistically insignificant area of the strip.The algorithm can also lead to large differences in color betweenneighboring strips due to the wide extent over which a strip is matchedto the base layer).

Better results are achieved by adjusting the tone locally throughout thestrip, but in continuous fashion. This allows the adjustment in one partof the strip to be different from that in another part of the strip,while at the same time, the tonal adjustment at one pixel is verysimilar to that for a neighboring pixel. A subtlety, even for localtonal adjustment, is how to address those portions of an image stripwhere a content discrepancy exists in comparison to the base layer. Forexample, the image strip may show a cloud where the base layer has none.Other content discrepancy might involve vegetation(presence/non-presence), vegetation (seasonal color), snow, water, citydevelopment, etc. Attempting to match the image strip to the base layerin such areas of discrepancy does not lead to good results.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, a process tocompute local tonal adjustment to image strips that matches to the baselayer where there is little or no content discrepancy, and appropriatelyadjusts the local tone of the image where there is content discrepancy,is disclosed. The tonal adjustment is continuous throughout each imagestrip and across neighboring image strips.

For each band, do the following. Normalize the local target imagehistogram (from the image to be used in the mosaic) and the localreference image histogram (from the base layer image), putting both on aDNscale from 0 to 1. Next transform the histograms by taking thelogarithm of the normalized DN values. Then match the target histogramto the reference histogram in the logarithm domain (i.e., find the gainand bias parameters in the logarithm domain that achieves the match.)Then apply the exponential to the DN values of the matched targethistogram in the logarithm domain, to realize the adjusted version ofthe original target histogram. The whole adjustment is governed by ahandful of parameters computed along the way, most notably, the gain andbias that were computed in the logarithm domain to achieve the matchthere. These parameters can be stored in a lookup table (LUT) for theimage patch—they dictate how the patch would be transformed to match thebase layer. The transformation could be applied to each pixel of thepatch individually.

Input:

-   -   High resolution seasonally-selected images to form the mosaic    -   Low resolution base layer of seasonally-selected LandSat imagery        that has been corrected for haze (standard ways to do this.) As        needed, the base layer may be up-sampled to the resolution of        the high-resolution imagery being used to construct the mosaic.

Fully Automated Process:

-   -   1) Take the image strip that we want to match to the base layer        and divide it into small tiles.    -   2) Construct various masks for the image strip to indicate where        tonal matching to the base layer should not be performed. These        masks are geared to the items below. We can form a “union” mask        by taking the union of all these masks.        -   a. Cloud discrepancy        -   b. Snow discrepancy        -   c. Water (water should not be matched even when present in            both images)        -   d. Vegetation discrepancy (presence/non-presence)        -   e. Vegetation discrepancy (e.g., red in one image, green in            the other)        -   f. Etcetera    -   3) An alternative to (2): Instead of the binary (good/bad) union        mask above, introduce a “score” raster where the DN values of        the score raster can be any integer between, say, 0 and 255. A        score raster indicates the degree to which each pixel in the        image (or a local patch around it) is good for base layer match.    -   4) Mark each tile of the image strip that has significant        overlap with the union mask. (Alternatively, mark each tile that        has low mean or median score of its pixels.)    -   5) (Adaptive subdivision to find smaller tiles that are good for        base layer matching.) Subdivide each marked tile into smaller        tiles. Mark each sub-tile if it has significant overlap with the        union mask (or has low mean or median score of its pixels.)        Repeat this step as desired before going to the next step.    -   6) Match each unmarked tile of the strip to the base layer and        get its LUT values. Associate these LUT values with the center        point of the tile.    -   7) With respect to marked tiles, the following are options:        -   a. Do nothing        -   b. Assign to the center of a marked tile the LUT value that            says “maintain the current tone.”        -   c. Assign to the center of a marked tile an LUT value that            would yield good visual results knowing which mask was            predominant in the tile. For example, if the tile had            significant overlap with cloud or snow, the LUT value could            be chosen so that the tile center is mapped to satisfactory            tone for cloud.        -   d. Let's not constrain ourselves to the centers of marked            tiles. We could look at connected components of marked tiles            and place LUT values at one or more locations anywhere            within the connected component.    -   8) Triangulate the image on the centers of all unmarked tiles,        and on any additional LUT points added in the previous step. Do        something like a Delauney triangulation which constructs        triangles that do not have arbitrarily small aspect ratio (small        dimension to large dimension)    -   9) Use the triangulation to interpolate the LUT values to the        entirety of the image. Within each triangle do linear        interpolation of the LUT values at its three corners. We have        now defined the LUT value for every pixel in the image.

In another preferred embodiment of the invention, a graphical userinterface and backend capability to support: (a) excising a patch fromthe current mosaic and replacing it with a patch from an alternate image(raster); (b) tonally adjusting the replacement patch; (c) tonallyfeathering the replacement patch to appear as seamless as possible withthe rest of the mosaic, is disclosed.

The inputs to this embodiment are the current mosaic, the image stripsthat contribute the mosaic tiles to the current mosaic, and additionalimage strips that overlap various portions of the mosaic. In theembodiment, all three data layers are loaded into an interactivegraphical viewer, while the user can direct the viewer to display any ofthese layers as the top layer.

Circular Patch Tool:

In this arrangement, the user brings the mosaic to the top layer of theviewer, then activates a circle centered at the mouse cursor andpositions the circle over a local adverse region, say a cloud, withinthe mosaic. The user can make the circle larger or smaller by scrollingthe mouse wheel so that the circle fully contains the cloud. Within thecircle, the user is enabled to page through and preview all the hiddenimage strips loaded into the viewer that overlap the circle. In thissense, the circle behaves like a “soda straw’ that provides localvisibility to any image strip that crosses it. If the user moves thecircle center or changes its radius, the local portion of image stripinside the circle is re-displayed in real-time. For an image stripcurrently being viewed within the circle (say an image strip that doesnot exhibit a cloud within the circle), the user can designate that thiscircular patch be incorporated into the mosaic as a new mosaic region,thereby removing the cloud. Tonal adjustment and feathering of thispatch (now a new mosaic region) is enabled via other aspects of theinvention described in other paragraphs.

Variation:

Everything the same, but instead of circle, the user can invoke andadjustable square or rectangle. Alternatively, the user can draw apolygon.

According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, a graphicalsoftware tool to edit the seam-lines and seam-line junctions of anorthomosaic, including editing of the tonal feathering in the vicinityof a seam-line, is disclosed.

Semi-Automated Seam-Line Rerouting with Real-Time Animation Preview:

This arrangement allows the user to reroute an individual seam-line.This capability is derived from the single-point detour and multi-pointdetour capabilities of the invention. However, the invention adds thefollowing enhancement: real-time clipping of the images on either sideof the seam-line.

Semi-Automated Junction Relocation with Real-Time Animation Preview:

This arrangement allows the user to move the junction (terminal) to anew location, while automatically rerouting the incident seam-lines asnecessary. It is derived from the Move Terminals capability of theinvention. However, the invention adds the following enhancement:real-time clipping of all the images incident to the terminal.

Semi-Automated Image-Based Seamline Rerouting with Real-Time AnimationPreview:

This arrangement enables the user to draw a box over part of a seamlineand invoke an image-based algorithm to reroute that portion within thebox in real-time and displays the results. The box is drag-able andresizable, and enabled with real-time preview display of the reroute. Ifthe user is satisfied with the reroute, the user may persist it.

Semi-Automated Editing of Seam-Line Feathering:

In this arrangement, the invention performs real-time tonal featheringof the seam-lines in a mosaic. (Here's what feathering is: Consider aseamline within the overlap area of raster A and raster B. Let R denotea positive number. At or near the seam-line, the RGB (red, blue, green)of a pixel within the overlap is computed by mixing fifty-fifty the Apixel's color channels with the corresponding B pixel's color channels.When the pixel is a distance din [−R, R] from the seam-line (negative dmeans the distance is in the A direction, positive d means the distanceis in the B direction) the A:B color interpolation mix is(R−r)/(2R):(R+r)/(2R). (Other feathering formulas are possible.) Whenthe distance d<−R, the pixel in the overlap takes on the A pixel's colorvalues. When the distance d>R, the pixel in the overlap takes on the Bpixel's color values.) Once the parameter R is specified by the user,the feathering is well-defined. The user has the ability to performlocal feathering at a selected point along the seamline: After the pointP is selected along the seamline and a radius R is specified, afeathering formula similar to that above is applied to the pixels insidethe disc of radius R centered at P. This feathering formula is designedso as to eliminate the possibility of a color discontinuity at theboundary of the disc, when transitioning from pixels inside the disc topixels outside the disc.

In another embodiment of the invention, a graphical user interface andbackend capability to support global tonal matching of tiles in anorthomosaic is disclosed.

The graphical user interface includes a mosaic viewer through which theuser can view the mosaic in total, or any part of it through pan andzoom.

The graphical user interface enables the user to selected multiplemosaic tiles at once and effectively merge them into a “super-tile.” A“super-tile” has a well-defined histogram (with all the pixels in thesuper-tile contributing to it.) In what follows, the term mosaic “tile”means either a connected mosaic region belonging to the same image strip(raster) or, just as well, a super-tile.

Variation 1:

The user selects a tile of the mosaic through the GUI. The user invokesa dialogue box displaying the band histograms for the tile. In thedialogue, the user may adjust the gain/bias of each band histogramindependently and see the effect in real-time on both the band histogramin the dialogue and the mosaic tile in the viewer.

Variation 2:

This user selects a pair A, B of tiles in the mosaic through the GUI.The user invokes a dialogue box displaying the A band histograms and theB band histograms. The histograms are displayed in such a way that eachA band histogram can be easily compared with the corresponding B bandhistogram. In the dialogue, the user may adjust gain/bias of any A bandhistogram independently to make it better match the corresponding B bandhistogram. The effect of the adjustment is seen in real-time on both theA band histogram in the dialogue and the mosaic tile A in the viewer.

Variation 3:

This user selects a pair A, B of tiles in the mosaic through the GUI.Next, the user invokes the following real-time automation. Theautomation first constructs the A band histograms and the B bandhistograms. Then it performs histogram matching of the A band histogramsto the corresponding B band histograms (i.e., causes the A bandhistograms to assume similar center and dispersion as the correspondingB band histograms) by automatically adjusting the gain/bias per band ofthe A band histograms. Lastly, the automation updates mosaic tile A inthe viewer.

Variation 4:

The user selects a pair A, B of tiles in the mosaic through the GUI. Theuser defines two local areas, one in tile A, one in tile B, using adrawing tool to create a polygon (or box, or circle, or ellipse, etc.)within in each of the two tiles. The user invokes a dialogue boxdisplaying the A band histograms for the A local area, and the B bandhistograms for the B local area. The histograms are displayed in such away that each A band histogram can be easily compared with thecorresponding B band histogram. In the dialogue, the user may adjustgain/bias of any A band histogram independently to make it better matchthe corresponding B band histogram. The effect is seen in real-time inthe A band histogram in the dialogue. Additionally, this gain/biasadjustment is applied to the A band histogram associated with theentirety of tile A (not just the local area within tile A) in the viewerin real-time.

Variation 5:

The user clicks on a pair A, B of tiles in the mosaic through the GUI.The user defines two local areas, one in tile A, one in tile B, using adrawing tool to create a polygon (or box, or circle, or ellipse, etc.)within in each of the two tiles. Next, the user invokes the followingreal-time automation. The automation first constructs the A bandhistograms for the A local area and the B band histograms for the Blocal area. It then performs histogram matching of the A band histogramsto the corresponding B band histograms by automatically adjusting thegain/bias per band of the A band histograms. Lastly, the gain/biasadjustments per band are applied to the A band histograms associatedwith the entirety of tile A, and the result is shown in the viewer.

Variation 6:

This variation is essentially identical to Variation 4 except that theuser defines just one local area, call it

, that straddles the seamline between the tiles A and B. This inducestwo local areas as before, namely,

constrained to tile A and

constrained to tile B.

Variation 7:

This variation is essentially identical to Variation 5 except that theuser defines just one local area, call it

that straddles the seamline between the tiles A and B. This induces twolocal areas as before, namely,

constrained to tile A and

constrained to tile B.

The skilled person will be aware of a range of possible modifications ofthe various embodiments described above. Accordingly, the presentinvention is defined by the claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for advanced vector editing, comprising:a vector analysis server comprising at least a processor, a memory, anda plurality of programming instructions stored in the memory andoperating on the processor, wherein the programming instructions, whenoperating on the processor, cause the processor to: analyze a pluralityof vector points retrieved from a storage; and provide the results ofanalysis as output; a vector routing calculation server comprising atleast a processor, a memory, and a plurality of programming instructionsstored in the memory and operating on the processor, wherein theprogramming instructions, when operating on the processor, cause theprocessor to: receive vector analysis information from the vectoranalysis server; calculate vector route information based at least inpart on the received vector analysis information; provide the vectorroute information as output; and provide the vector route information toa vector database for storage; and a rendering engine comprising atleast a processor, a memory, and a plurality of programming instructionsstored in the memory and operating on the processor, wherein theprogramming instructions, when operating on the processor, cause theprocessor to form visualizations based at least in part on the vectorrouting information received; wherein the calculation of vector routeinformation comprises: calculating a three-dimensional vector pathaccording to epipolar geometry; determining a new three-dimensionallocation based at least in part on the raster data and thethree-dimensional vector path calculation; and updating a stored vectorprojection via the epipolar geometry.
 2. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising a viewer, wherein the rendering engine provides thevisualizations to the viewer.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein theviewer is a visual display screen, wherein the screen displays thevisualizations for viewing by a human user.
 4. The system of claim 1,further comprising a plurality of user input devices, wherein the userinput devices allow a human user to interact with the visualizations. 5.A method for advanced vector editing, comprising the steps of:positioning, using a rendering engine comprising at least a memory, aprocessor, and a plurality of programming instructions stored in thememory and operating on the processor thereof, a cursor on a rasterimage displayed on a viewer; calculating, using a vector routingcalculation server comprising at least a memory, a processor, and aplurality of programming instructions stored in the memory and operatingon the processor thereof, a radius around the cursor; positioning theradius in contact with a vector path on the raster image; andrecalculating the vector path through the cursor location within theradius; wherein the recalculation of the vector path comprises:calculating a three-dimensional vector path according to epipolargeometry; determining a new three-dimensional location based at least inpart on the raster data and the three-dimensional vector pathcalculation; and updating the vector path via the epipolar geometry. 6.The method of claim 5, further comprising the step of resizing theradius prior to recalculating the vector path.
 7. The method of claim 5,further comprising the step of selecting additional points prior torecalculating the vector path.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein theadditional points are selected by a human user using a computer inputdevice.
 9. The method of claim 7, further comprising the step ofrecalculating the vector path through each of the selected points. 10.The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of: determining athree-dimensional location from the raster image; determining athree-dimensional vector path; recalculating the vector path accordingto a three-dimensional space; and updating, using a rendering engine,the vector projection on the raster image.